Crystal Palace shares points with Leicester City
By Ed Emeanua
Nigeria defensive midfielder Wilfred Ndidi’s brace of assists was not enough to secure Leicester City their first win of the season at at Selhurst Park Saturday.
Stephy Mavididi scored Leicester City’s second goal in the Foxes’ weekend Premier League fray against Crystal Palace after his right footed shot from the centre of the box streaked in to the high centre of the goal from an Ndidi assist in the 46th minute.
Mercurial forward Jamie Vardy’s 21st minute right footed shot from a snug corner on the right to the centre of the goal from the Nigerian’s assist with a through ball gave Leicester the lead.
Leicester still fell short to win their first Premier league 2024-2025 season for new manager Steve Cooper despite a clear 2-0 advantage with almost half of the match left to play.
Crystal Palace’s Jean-Philippe Mateta then right footed his 47th minute shot from very close range to the bottom right corner of Tyrick Mitchell assist with a cross to halve The Foxes lead and begin The Eagles’ fightback.
Mateta’s goal, initially contentious was eventually cleared by VAR following a lengthy review.
Ndidi bagged a yellow card for Leicester City in the 52nd minute following a bad foul on Eberechi Eze.
James Justin’s right footed goal effort from outside the box sailed into the sky from another Ndidi assist.
Ndidi was eventually substituted with Hamza Choudhury in the 76th minute.
With ninety minutes played and two minutes into added time, Crystal Palace completed their comeback from the penalty spot. Ismaïla Sarr drew a foul in the penalty area against Conor Coady who also bagged a yellow card for the effort.
Mateta stepped out for The Eagles to score the penalty with a right footed shot to the centre of the goal for a beffiting 2-2 ending.
Cooper on game
“It does feel like a defeat, there’s no doubt about that. I thought we were really good in the first half, to come away to a team like Palace and play like we did. We should have gone 1-0 up early on, we missed a good chance. We were more than good for at least 1-0. I enjoyed what I saw from the team, how we played, the application, the decisions we made. There was so much growth in what we’re trying to become.
“It was a perfect start to the second half, but then the complete opposite in how we managed going 2-0 up. That was a real pivotal moment in the game because from a very dour atmosphere, it turned into a very supportive one. Then you’re up against it on and off the pitch.
“But Palace chucked everything at us, made a load of changes and put every attacking player on they could. They had six or seven on the back-line and we matched numbers. As well as Mads played, he didn’t have to make save after save after save. I felt we defended in our low block well. We didn’t want to be there as much as we did, but the game ended up going like that.
“I never really felt like the goal was coming. It could, because of the territory. We were trying to get counter-attacks with Abdul on the pitch. Any chances they were having were from difficult areas and they were going wide and would have been difficult opportunities to score. To give the penalty away is frustrating.
“I really want to see the absolute offside image of the first goal. If it is, no problem, we’ll hold our hands up, but we can’t be calling off-sides on suggestions which is only what we’ve seen at the moment. We need to get that image quickly off the Premier League. If it is, I’ll accept it.”
